A group called the Citizens Commission on Benghazi has come out with a damning report on events and decisions that led up to the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya that left four Americans dead. The commission, which is made up of former high-ranking US military officers, CIA insiders and think-tank fellows, gathered information on Benghazi across seven months. Their investigation included 85 Freedom of Information Act requests as well as contact with current officials who have direct knowledge of US actions during the months prior to the attack.

‘The United States switched sides in the war on terror with what we did in Libya, knowingly facilitating the provision of weapons to known al-Qaeda militias and figures,’ Clare Lopez, a member of the commission and a former CIA officer, told MailOnline.

She blamed the Obama administration for failing to stop half of a $1 billion United Arab Emirates arms shipment from reaching al-Qaeda-linked militants.

‘Remember, these weapons that came into Benghazi were permitted to enter by our armed forces who were blockading the approaches from air and sea,’ Lopez claimed. ‘They were permitted to come in. … [They] knew these weapons were coming in, and that was allowed..

‘The intelligence community was part of that, the Department of State was part of that, and certainly that means that the top leadership of the United States, our national security leadership, and potentially Congress – if they were briefed on this – also knew about this.’

The weapons were intended for Gaddafi but allowed by the U.S. to flow to his Islamist opposition.

The commission also says that Islamists attacked the US facility in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, not intending to kill US Ambassador Christopher Steven, but to kidnap him. The attackers intended to grab him and use him to bargain for the release of “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdul Rahman, the mastermind of the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center in New York.

There is evidence to back up that claim. In the days prior to the attack in Benghazi, unrest rose up in Cairo, Egypt. While the US embassy in Cairo blamed the uprising on a YouTube movie, the real driver behind it was a coalition of Islamist groups. Those groups were not protesting a movie at all. According to the warning they published in Egyptian media, they had a specific demand:

“The group, which consists of many members from al-Qaeda, called [especially] for the quick release of the jihadi [mujahid] sheikh, Omar Abdul Rahman [the "Blind Sheikh"], whom they described as a scholar and jihadi who sacrificed his life for the Egyptian Umma, who was ignored by the Mubarak regime, and [President] Morsi is refusing to intervene on his behalf and release him, despite promising that he would. The Islamic Group has threatened to burn the U.S. Embassy in Cairo with those in it, and taking hostage those who remain [alive], unless the Blind Sheikh is immediately released.”

Islamists did attack the US embassy in Cairo on September 11, 2012 — the same day of the attack in Benghazi, Libya. The attackers breached the embassy’s walls and replaced the American flag with the black flag of Islam.

The citizens’ Benghazi commission, which is supported by Accuracy in Media, also criticizes the Obama administration for its handling of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. According to the commission, Gaddafi offered to abdicate shortly after the Islamist uprising against him began. He had two conditions: Permission to continue fighting al Qaeda in Libya, and a lifting of sanctions against him and his family. The Obama administration, according to the commission, was unwilling to help broker a peaceful exit, and instead allowed $500 million of weapons intended for Gaddafi to make its way into the hands of the Islamists. Those Islamists toppled Gaddafi and later, assaulted the US facility in Benghazi.

The Obama administration insists that no US forces could have responded to the assault in Benghazi in time to save the Americans there. The commission says that that is untrue.

[Commission member, Admiral James] Lyons also said U.S. claims that it lacked the resources to mount a counterattack in time to save lives is false.

‘I’m going to tell you that’s not true,’ he said. ‘We had a 130-man unit of forces at Sigonella [AFB in Italy]. They were ready to go.’

‘The flight time from Sigonella to Benghazi is roughly an hour.’

Perhaps most explosively, the commission alleges that the Obama administration’s attempt to blame the attack on a YouTube movie was coordinated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which was coordinating Islamist action in Egypt and Libya.

The commission wants a congressional select committee appointed to investigate the Benghazi attack.

Bryan Preston has been a leading conservative blogger and opinionator since founding his first blog in 2001. Bryan is a military veteran, worked for NASA, was a founding blogger and producer at Hot Air, was producer of the Laura Ingraham Show and, most recently before joining PJM, was Communications Director of the Republican Party of Texas.

It has been learned that one week prior to the Benghazi attacks that resulted in the deaths of four Americans, CIA Director David Petraeus met with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan. This finding, reported by Hurrieyt at the time, further bolsters brand new claims by Seymour M. Hersh, the man who broke the Abu Ghraib prison scandal story in 2004.

In early 2012, the Obama administration, along with the administration of Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reached an agreement that would have Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia provide funding for an operation run by then CIA Director David Petraeus (the Petraeus Operation), according to Hersh’s report. The purpose of the operation, carried out by the CIA and Great Britain’s MI6, was to move weapons from Libya into Syria, using back channel ‘rat lines’.

In January of this year, a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) made news when it released an 85-page bipartisan report on the Benghazi attacks. According to Hersh, there was an addendum or “highly classified annex” to the report which detailed the Petraeus operation. As to who was issued this highly sensitive document, House Speaker John Boehner and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers were reportedly among them.

According to a ‘former intelligence official’ cited heavily by Hersh, the classified annex revealed that the Special Mission Compound where Ambassador Christoper Stevens was murdered was nothing more than a front for negotiating the weapons transfers from Libya to Syria through Turkey.

If Boehner had classified information about weapons being shipped to Syria from Libya, via Turkey as far back as January of last year, how long before that did he know about it? Despite a majority of House Republicans (185 – 38) who are calling for a Select Committee to investigate what happened in Benghazi, Boehner continues to refuse to appoint one. It stands to reason that if Boehner knew what was going on in Benghazi prior to the attacks, he wouldn’t want the truth about Benghazi to come out now. (show less)

The fact that the attackers took Ambassador Stevens to the hospital is evidence that their purpose was not murder but kidnapping.And toss in the facts that, just a month prior to the events in Benghazi, Obama had celebrated Ramadan with ambassadors of the Muslim Brotherhood, and another month prior to that President-elect Morsi had promised Muslim Brotherhood members that he would free the 'Blind Shiek'. And then toss in all Obama Sisterhood lies about Benghazi. How can anyone not see the truth of the matter?

Allen West is probably more objective than anyone you can name. He's certainly more truthful than Obama, Clinton, or Susan Rice. Some people do feel honor bound to tell the truth, and some don't. There is no reason to believe that West is not of the former group; and there is plenty of proof that Obama, Clinton, and Rice are of the latter group.

It has been learned that one week prior to the Benghazi attacks that resulted in the deaths of four Americans, CIA Director David Petraeus met with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan. This finding, reported by Hurrieyt at the time, further bolsters brand new claims by Seymour M. Hersh, the man who broke the Abu Ghraib prison scandal story in 2004.

In early 2012, the Obama administration, along with the administration of Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reached an agreement that would have Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia provide funding for an operation run by then CIA Director David Petraeus (the Petraeus Operation), according to Hersh’s report. The purpose of the operation, carried out by the CIA and Great Britain’s MI6, was to move weapons from Libya into Syria, using back channel ‘rat lines’.

In January of this year, a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) made news when it released an 85-page bipartisan report on the Benghazi attacks. According to Hersh, there was an addendum or “highly classified annex” to the report which detailed the Petraeus operation. As to who was issued this highly sensitive document, House Speaker John Boehner and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers were reportedly among them.

According to a ‘former intelligence official’ cited heavily by Hersh, the classified annex revealed that the Special Mission Compound where Ambassador Christoper Stevens was murdered was nothing more than a front for negotiating the weapons transfers from Libya to Syria through Turkey.

If Boehner had classified information about weapons being shipped to Syria from Libya, via Turkey as far back as January of last year, how long before that did he know about it? Despite a majority of House Republicans (185 – 38) who are calling for a Select Committee to investigate what happened in Benghazi, Boehner continues to refuse to appoint one. It stands to reason that if Boehner knew what was going on in Benghazi prior to the attacks, he wouldn’t want the truth about Benghazi to come out now. (show less)

‘The intelligence community was part of that, the Department of State was part of that, and certainly that means that the top leadership of the United States, our national security leadership, and potentially Congress – if they were briefed on this – also knew about this.’

This "intelligence community" was the CIA under David "Holy Qur'an" Petraeus and it was the driving part of it, not any old part. And Boehner knew about it and that's why he has been blocking a deeper investigation.

The fact that the attackers took Ambassador Stevens to the hospital is evidence that their purpose was not murder but kidnapping.And toss in the facts that, just a month prior to the events in Benghazi, Obama had celebrated Ramadan with ambassadors of the Muslim Brotherhood, and another month prior to that President-elect Morsi had promised Muslim Brotherhood members that he would free the 'Blind Shiek'. And then toss in all Obama Sisterhood lies about Benghazi. How can anyone not see the truth of the matter?

It's quite a report. Something has smelled fishy about what went down in Benghazi Sept. 11 2012 from the getgo, combined with John Boehner's seeming reluctance to get to the bottom of it, like he's holding back something.

You could imagine Obama's girlz, Samantha Power, Valerie Jarrett, Susan Rice et al insisting on the demise of Q-Daffy and the distribution of American arms to AQIM in pursuit of that goal.

I watched CNN interview the organizers of the demonstrations in Cairo prior to the attacks these were family members of the "blind sheikh" and they were demanding his release--i don't believe i have ever seen anything more pitiful in my adult life as far as politics is concerned then this utterly stupid story that the President spun and the press ran with-i would like to know how many copts were killed -how many businesses looted churches burned b/c of this LIE-to do that to some of the most vulnerable people in the world and the danger that other embassies and consulates were then exposed to speaks volumes of the cowardice of our president--and with this Iranian deal we are now a state-sponsor of terrorism -Up is down and down is up

Nakoula is not "an innocent citizen". He's a con-man, identity-thief, drug dealer and tax cheat who broke the terms of his parole, two of which were to not ues an alias and to stay off the Internet. And, on top of all that, he tried to blame it all on Jewish people.

Yup, really raises the question of who Nakoula really is. If memory serves, he's named after either a famous jihadi or a famous narcotics trafficker (Bacile).That the White House just happened to pick up on an anti-Islam movie, which was produced almost certainly by a porn studio (in California, history of drug dealing, the cheesy aesthetics), is worrisome.I've personally always held that Benghazi could have been more of a distraction operation than anything. A $1 billion drug shipment would certainly be worth a raid on an American "embassy." And that's the approximate worth of a narco sub full of cocaine.Throw on top of that any ancillary benefits of a kidnapping, etc., and AQIM would have all the reason in the world, and probably did.

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